Skinner and Edmonton Oilers turning calendar back to January

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The January Edmonton Oilers are back.

No, we’re not going to see another 16-game winning streak, but it’s three games in a row now that they’ve been able to summon the stuff that resurrected their season and turned them back into Stanley Cup contenders.

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Saturday afternoon’s 2-1 win over the host Seattle Kraken, on a second-period goal from Leon Draisaitl, a third-period goal from Brett Kulak and the kind of goaltending they need from Stuart Skinner, was another playoff-style grind in which the Oilers looked right at home.

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It is their third straight win and third game in a row in which they allowed two or fewer goals. This is welcome relief after a wonky 10-game post-streak hangover in which they allowed 42.

“You look at the play of Skins the last three games, he’s been outstanding,” said head coach Kris Knoblauch. “We’ve been tightening it up a little bit defensively but the biggest thing is the goaltending. He’s been making big saves.

“The goal scoring hasn’t been there as much as we’d like but I think that will come eventually.”

This was no gimme. The Kraken came into the contest 5-1-1 in their previous seven games, which is a better record over that span than Edmonton’s 2-4-1, and are still pushing hard for a playoff spot. But in a stern road test against a hot opponent on a mission the Oilers found a way to win a 2-1 game.

“It’s nice to see, just finding a way to get the job done,” said Kulak. “We’re believing in each other and just playing our game. And we’re getting results, which is nice to see.”

The Oilers scored first for a change when Connor McDavid’s 73rd assist of the season set up Draisaitl’s 30th goal midway through the second period.

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The assist extended McDavid’s consecutive-game points streak to 10 games (one goal, 23 assists). Saturday was the first time in six games that he was held to fewer than two points. Draisaitl, meanwhile, has 15 points in the last 10 games and made it six seasons in a row with 30 or more goals. 

On a night when goals were hard to come by both ways, Knoblauch says it’s a comfort knowing that one or both of these guys is going to break through eventually.

“When the game is not going so well there are some teams that have that goal scorer, that player who can break the game open with a little opportunity,” said Knoblauch. “We’ve got a couple of them and that was a big difference in the game tonight.”

Kulak’s point shot put Edmonton up 2-0 midway through the third and all Seattle could do after that was break Skinner’s bid for a fifth career shutout. They finally got to him on a power play with 6:37 left to play.

“It’s always good contributing that way,” Kulak said of his third goal of the season, which turned out to be the game-winner. “When you see one go in it feels good, especially in a tight game. It proved to be a big one so it feels good.”

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There was still some last-minute drama when Draisaitl took a holding penalty with the Seattle net empty, giving the Kraken a six-on-four power play for the final 53 seconds of the game. Seattle applied furious pressure but Skinner, who laid the foundation for this win from the start, made two more massive saves to preserve the victory.

“Stuart was outstanding,” said Knoblauch. “Early on there were some mishaps with the pucks that led to good scoring chances and then in the last 10 minutes of the third period we were just holding on, especially on the penalty kill. He made some really big saves. He played really well.”

Skinner is coming off a rough stretch of 2-4-1 in which his save percentage never got above .900, but he’s won three in a row now, allowing two goals on 40 shots against Los Angeles, two goals on 34 shots against St. Louis and one goal on 24 shots Saturday afternoon.

That’s a .949 save percentage if you’re scoring at home.

“I felt good right off the bat,” said Skinner. “I got into the game pretty quickly; their first two chances were pretty good ones. When you stop both of them you tend to feel a little bit better about the night. It brings up the confidence for sure going into the rest of the night.”

LATE HITS — Zach Hyman’s six-game (eight goal) scoring streak came to an end … It was the first time in six games that Edmonton didn’t give up the first goal. In fact, it’s only the third time in the last 12 games they weren’t down 1-0.

E-mail: rtychkowski@postmedia.com

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